Dear Prashant, Can you share Dr T V Raman's contact info, please, if you have it ? Pl send it to my id, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Thanks and rgds RS M: 098 472 76 126 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Prashant Naik Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 9:05 PM To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Subject: Re: [AI] Article on T V Raman Really wonderful job by T. V. Raman. It was our great luck last month that we XRCVC team members met him in mumbai. It was great experience talking to him and knowing so many things about technology and about him. regards, prashant naik On 11/14/07, Nicky Varma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > +11: Cracking the Code of Accessible Search > > by Dan Jellinek. (Taken from November, 07 issue of E-Access Bulletin) > > > > > > It was revealed this month that Google has become the fifth biggest > > company in the US, bigger even than McDonalds and Disney: a > > reflection of the fact that the way we search the internet has become > > one of the most important parts of our lives. > > > > As no-one with a disability or who works with or is close to someone > > with a disability needs reminding, the desires and needs of people with > > disabilities are precisely the same as those of everybody else, which > > means that searching the internet is high on their list, too. > > > > Google was always a highly usable site, one of the secrets of its > > success: simple and functional and text-based, which means it is fairly > > accessible already to people navigating the internet using text-to- > > speech converters or other special access technologies. But in recent > > years the company has realised that it is not just access to the search > > interface, but browsing the results; and even the accessibility of the > > sites returned as results that dictates how accessible the whole search > > experience has become. > > > > The man charged with looking at these issues for Google is research > > scientist T.V. Raman. Based at Google HQ in Mountain View, > > California, Raman is responsible for developing Google Accessible > > Search ( > > http://labs.google.com/accessible/ ), > > a trial version of the Google search interface that is designed to be > > easier to use by people with impaired vision or other disabilities, > > including a system of ranking search results according to the > > accessibility of the site. > > > > "My job is to look at what Google technology can do for users with > > disabilities: to make sure it works with assistive technology, and also > > to look at what we can build to help in new ways," he told E-Access > > Bulletin in an exclusive interview recorded during a UK trip last > > month. > > > > "Search is very useful for people with impaired vision, but one of the > > things I had observed over the years is that websites returned on the > > third, fourth or fifth page of results were often the most easy to read. > > > > "I built accessible search last year to address this. It is not a > different > > one: it is Google, the same index, the same magic. But it swaps the > > order of search results depending on whether they are easy to read." > > > > To make this assessment, the software looks at a group of 'design > > patterns' such as whether the HTML code is clearly structured; > > whether the page makes sense with images turned off; how the page > > uses colour; and whether the page can be used without a mouse. > > > > "It looks at a whole bunch of things, some positive, some negative. > > And it gets trained: using user feedback on the results, it is trained to > > learn over time about which sites are the most useful." > > > > The accessible search tool is still in development, though it is publicly > > available through the Google testbed area 'labs.google.com'. While > > still primarily marketed by word of mouth, the ultimate goal is to make > > it a choice on the main Google home page, T.V. said. > > > > As befits a multi-billion pound technology company, these days > > Google's activities extend far beyond its initial core offering of an > > internet search engine, and T.V.'s work also includes looking at the > > wider range of Google's work such as web-based software and desktop > > tools to try to ensure that these, too, are as accessible as possible. > > > > "I am looking at the whole range of Google products that have rich > > value to people with impaired vision. Blind users for example want > > simple ways to add events to a calendar." To help people gain access, > > Google has released the source code to its API (application > > programming interface)", he said, "and we are also looking for how we > > can make highly interactive web applications work better with assistive > > technologies." > > > > T.V.'s background is an unusual one for a Silicon Valley high flyer. > > His initials are a clue: they stand for Tiruvilwamalai Venkatraman, > > being respectively his ancestral village and his father's name, as is the > > tradition in Southern India, where he was born, in 1965. Blind since > > childhood, he had a tough fight on his hands in a society where the > > barriers to achievement for people with disabilities are far higher than > > in many more developed countries in the West - barriers of both cost > > and social attitude. > > > > Nevertheless he managed to shine as a student with particular gifts in > > maths, obtaining a place at the Indian Institute of Technology in > > Bombay. From there he successfully applied for a place at Cornell > > University, an Ivy League institution among the best colleges in > > America, travelling there in 1989 to take a PhD in mathematics. > > > > "Taking exams like the GRE [graduate record examination, a test > > required by many US educational institutions] in the 1980s with the > > help of a writer was 'interesting' in India - there was a communication > > gap between [the non-profit educational testing service] ETS in the US > > that administers the tests (and is well-set up for handling students with > > special needs) and their counterparts in India who run the tests on > > behalf of ETS," said T.V. "But things got sorted out eventually." > > > > He completed his thesis in 1994, gaining an Association of Computing > > Machinery Doctoral Dissertation Award in the process. > > > > But although his doctorate was in maths, by the time he had completed, > > an interesting metamorphosis had taken place. "I was a mathematician, > > but I built all the computer systems to access what I needed, and by the > > time I had finished I was a computer scientist, not a mathematician any > > more." > > > > Following his graduation, one of his best known projects has been the > > invention and continued development of Emacspeak, a speech interface > > to the complete PC desktop including web and email access (the name > > is derived from the term 'Emacs', a powerful type of text editor and > > interface often used by computer programmers). > > > > His subsequent path to Google was a highly successful career in > > programming and systems development followed at some of the > > world's biggest names in innovation including Xerox, Digital > > Equipment Corporation, Adobe Systems and IBM Research. > > > > At IBM he worked on developing a speech interface for mobile web > > applications such as online shopping. The solution was developed as a > > mainstream application, he says, though it would be useful for blind > > people. > > > > Despite his switch to IT, his heart has remained with maths: his > > favourite pastime is solving puzzles which require an intuitive feel for > > numbers and mathematical patterns. He can solve a Braille version of > > the Rubik's Cube, for example, in just 30 seconds (for a video of this > > remarkable feat, see: > > http://fastlink.headstar.com/rubik1 ). > > > > And so to Google in August 2005, where he has become one of the key > > modern players in access to information by people with impaired > > vision. If anyone can solve the puzzle of full accessibility, it is surely > > T.V. Raman. > > > > > > > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
